Updated 5-26-97
Updated 5-26-97
ISSN 1068-9109
December 1996 Contents
Master Table of Contents
CD-ROM Recorders
by Dana Trout, GDTPUG
I did it. I bought a CD-ROM recorder (CDR). The prices have come down enough, and the capabilities have improved enough that I felt I could not afford to be without one. And, of course, I have several clients who are now looking to publish their own CD-ROMs, so it would be a good idea for me to know all about it before charging them for my advice. There's precious little worse than dry-labbing when a client's business is at stake.
What I bought was a Philips CD2000 2x recorder/4x player with Corel CD Creator version 2 and Astarte Toast version 3. Corel CD Creator (CDC) comes with a multi-platform manual and CD, and works on Win31, Win95, WinNT, and the Mac. Toast is only for the Mac. The recorder and CDC are being sold now as a bundle for under $600 (external) and Philips includes a $100 rebate. (You have to be a little bit careful about this, though, because they give this rebate only for “retail packaged” drives, not oem. Some dealers are buying the oem version, putting it in their own case, and then selling it and telling buyers they'll get a rebate, when, in fact they won't.)
There are several CDRs with good reputations: the Yamaha 100/102, the Ricoh, and the Philips. I chose the Philips because it has a flash ROM and they post updates on their bulletin board and web site, while Yamaha has a soldered-in EPROM which means I would have to send the drive to them for any updates. Neither supports the new packet recording standard (which itself is in the process of being finalized), so if I later decide that packet recording is important to me, the Philips should be easier, cheaper, and faster to upgrade. Oh yes, the Philips uses a tray while the Yamaha uses a caddy. I plan use the drive only for recording, so for me it is easier to use the tray.
So what are the issues relating to CDR? As usual, that depends on what you want to do. The most common uses of a CDR include the following:
Let's look at each of these uses separately.
Archival Backup Device
CDR has both strengths and weaknesses for this use. It is significantly
more stable than tape, and I imagine that drives capable of reading
the present discs will exist long after drives capable of reading
the present generation of tapes. Tapes really should be retensioned
and cleaned periodically, and the data transferred to new tapes within
five years or so (the binders holding the magnetic medium to the tape
backing does fail over time -- how well they last depends on the
quality and the care given to the tapes). Tapes should not be placed
in a vault and then forgotten.
However, the current CD capacity of only 660MB is a problem in the era of consumer computers with 1.6GB drives. So you really need to decide what it is you want to archive. My personal feeling is that there is little need to back up the applications (each with their multi-hundred MB of files) or the operating system: after all, you still have the CDs they came on. However, the stuff you create with the applications is what needs archiving. Fortunately, most of us create only megabytes of files a week with our word-processors, spreadsheets, and so on. The CD is OK for this volume of data.
Those who are doing live video will find the CD to be much too small for archiving: there's just too much data. Live video producers are complaining vociferously about the 2GB limit in Win95 (hence the new FAT32 file structure) because they can't fit more than a few minutes in 2GB. The CD is not for them as an archiving tool (but can be just the ticket for distribution -- we'll get into this later). But for multigigabyte storage the only solution is tape.
Other possibilities for archiving are the Iomega Zip and Jaz, and the Syquest Easy 230 and 1.3G. However, when you look at the cost per MB they all come out about the same, which is about five to seven times the cost of CDR. Strangely enough, the cost of CDR media is closer to the cost of tape than to other removable cartridge systems, but it is much longer-lived than either.
The problem with getting such a powerful way of archiving is that you suddenly realize that you can either record everything in a hodge-podge with minimally labelled discs, or try to be more organized. And the problem with organization is that you have to do it, it takes time, and there's too many other things to do right now. The best I can suggest is organize your archiving process as much as you can without distracting yourself from what you really need to do.
In my case I have Win95 on a 800MB disk (and Win31 on a 1GB, go figure). Anyway, the Win95 disk was bursting at the seams (I even had to remove PageMaker for a while) with stuff I wanted to keep available, but it didn't really have to be mounted or on-line all the time. The CDR was the perfect solution: most of my computers have CD players, I could put all that detritus on several CDs and slip them in when I needed them. This gave me not only archiving but near-line storage as well.
Near-Line Storage
This term refers to data that isn't permanently stored on the computer,
but is readily accessible. We are all used to using floppies for this
purpose, but with the size of Word and PowerPoint files these days,
floppies don't hack it. The Zip has become wildly popular as the stand-in
for a bigger floppy, but its cartridge costs twice as much as a CDR
blank while holding only a sixth of the data. Also, most computers
now have CD readers, but relatively few have Zip (or other removable
cartridge) drives. That means if you are looking at the total cost
of the system, you will have to compare the price of adding a Zip
drive to every computer (plus media costs) to the cost of $6-8 per
CDR blank for each computer and one CD recorder.
Low-Cost Shipping of Lots of Data
Think about it: a $6-8 CD plus tyvek sleeve plus two sheets of cardboard
and an envelope compared to a $95 Jaz cartridge plus large padded
envelope for its carton. And when the data gets to the destination
what is the relative likelihood that the computer there has a Jaz
drive as compared to a CD reader?
Low-Cost CD Master for Replication
CD replication houses do accept files on other media, such as Jaz
cartridges, DAT tapes, and so on. But then they have to build a CD
disk image before making the master (and they charge you for this
service). The master they build may not be what you actually wanted:
especially in the case of the Macintosh you get to “build the
desktop” which means you get to choose the position of the icons
and windows. If you make your own CD master you can lay it out exactly
the way you want, and you can test it for performance. If you need
to make changes, you just burn another one for $8 instead of finding
yourself stuck with 5,000 copies that really aren't quite right. When
you've finally come up with the CD layout you want, then you send
that to the replicator and that's what you get thousands of. In this
case the low cost primarily refers to the low cost of an error -- you
get to find and correct that error before it becomes a high-cost item.
CD Recording
OK, so you think recording on a CDR is for you: your data fits well
into the approximately 660MB size, you like the fact that most computers
now have a drive that can read your recorded data (not true of tapes
or removable cartridges), and you like the fact that the data is readily
accessible (getting a particular file on a CD takes less than a second,
while listening to a tape whine for a minute or so can be wearing).
What are the “gotchas”?
CDR Recording Gotchas
First I'll need to back up and tell you a little bit about CD technology.
Then you'll be better able to understand the issues.
A CD is not laid out as concentric tracks like a hard or floppy disk: it uses a single spiral groove, much like a record (but unlike a record, the groove starts near the center and ends near the edge). The groove is broken up into blocks with approximately 2KB of data each (the exact amount depends on the kind of data: sound, digital data, and so on). Each block is numbered, and there is a Table of Contents (TOC) which lists the contents and the corresponding block numbers. There is also a lead-in at the beginning and a lead-out at the end.
So why do we care about how the disc is laid out? Because we have some choices about how we record which affect the readability of the disc on various CD drives.
Our choices for the overall structure of a data disc are Single Session, Multi-Session, and Multi-Volume. All CD readers can read a single-session CD. Most drives made within the past three years can read multi-session (if your drive can read all sessions on Kodak PhotoCD discs, it can read multi-session). Most multi-session capable CD readers can read multi-volume but need a special software driver.
Multi-volume is the easiest to record. Say you want to archive all
of your Multi-session differs from multi-volume in that there is only one
TOC. When you record a new session, it is compared with previous sessions
and a new TOC which refers to all files for all sessions is created.
The old TOCs are ignored -- they just become bits of inaccessible
data debris. If you use Corel's CD Creator to do multi-session recording
you can also tell it to leave out files from previous sessions in
the new TOC. This way you can “delete” files on the CD (they
are still there, but nothing points to them so they are relatively
inaccessible). And, of course, this is the way you can replace a file
with a newer version. From the standpoint of reading the disc, most
players and software made in the past three years will work just fine.
Multi-session is compatible with more players and operating systems
than multi-volume. However it chews up more of the CD with its ever-growing
copies of the TOC. The multi-volume gives you true traceable archiving:
files cannot be deleted or overwritten, which means that multi-volume
is a true snapshot at a particular point in time. Whether this is
a feature or a curse depends on what you need.
Both multi-session and multi-volume begin each session (volume) with
a lead-in and end with a lead-out. This wastes some storage capacity
and may be a concern if the amount of data you need to record is nearly
the capacity of the CD.
Single-session can be read by anything that purports to be a CD player
(including your audio CD player, but you will probably blow out either
the amplifier or the speakers, so don't do it). The downside is that
you get only the one session on the disc: if you have only 20MB of
data you've just wasted the remaining 600MB+. That's a pretty hefty
price to pay to assure backward compatibility for drives over three
years old. Ten such discs will pay for a new CD reader. But there
are times when it makes sense: if you have to send out weekly summaries
to 20 clients the concept of multisession loses its appeal. Sure,
you could ask the clients to send back the previous disc, but when
you balance the cost of shipping and handling (plus the inevitable
scratches due to mishandling) against the $8 cost of new media you
find the decision is quite easy.
The TAO of Speed
Speed is an important issue because once the CDR fires up its laser
and starts recording down that spiral, you've got to feed it the data
it needs when it needs it all the way to the logical end of the recording.
It first writes the lead-in and TOC, then the files, and finishes
with the lead-out. If the recorder runs out of data before it reaches
the end the TOC points to data that really isn't there -- you've
just made an expensive and not very effective coaster.
Writing DAO (disc at once) is the hardest to do because you've got
to have all 660MB data right at hand. SAO is easier because you need
only a session's worth at a time. And TAO is the easiest of all because
you can make the track length a convenient size.
Lack of Speed Kills
You will have to look at your setup to make sure you can feed the
recorder. For instance, I have one computer with a 486dx4/120MHz but
with an Adaptec 1520 SCSI card to connect to the CDR. The processor
is fast but the SCSI interface is slow (not bus mastering). The combination
works even at 2x recording speed because the processor speed makes
up for the turgid interface. And it helps that the hard drives I am
recording are not on that same SCSI bus (they are on an IDE interface).
Another computer is a 486dx2/66 running only half the speed of the
first. But it has an Adaptec 1542 bus-mastering SCSI card which connects
not only to the CDR but all the other disk drives. The card's enhanced
throughput makes up for the moderate processor speed and the fact
that everything runs through that one card. And this combination works
fine too for 2x recordings.
I know that neither of these setups would work at 4x speed unless
I built an actual image of the CD on a hard drive (which means setting
aside a 700MB scratch area which I was unwilling to do), so I didn't
pay twice as much for a 4x recorder that I would use most of the time
at 2x. Also, I feel that in a year or two the prices will drop because
of the introduction of DVD recorders (which will record eight times
as much information on the same-sized disc). Actually, what probably
will happen is the prices stay about the same but the only recorders
will be DVDs, but the conclusion is the same: why spend that much
premium for so little real advantage?
December 1996 Contents
Corel CD Creator Version 2 Corel CD Creator (CDC) is a popular application program for controlling
CD-ROM recorders, and is often bundled with them. It comes with a
multi-platform manual and CD, and works on Win31, Win95, WinNT, and
the Macintosh.
At first I was frustrated by Corel's CDC manual. What bothered me
was that there was no information about system requirements (RAM,
how much hard disk would be needed, etc), nor, for that matter, any
information about software installation. I tried looking things up
in the index, but it referred me to page A-9. But I couldn't find
any Appendix A. When I looked at other entries in the index, I noticed
that they The manual is pretty superficial, but excuses itself by telling you
to look at the help files. That would be OK except for the fact that
the help files are pretty superficial too. The most irritating response
to clicking Help in any of the applications is The topic does
not exist. Contact your application vendor for an updated Help file.
(129) But for the most part the software performs OK.
Note that many of these applications are not really
full-fledged. For instance, even though PCD Creator lets you copy
images from Kodak PhotoCDs, the resulting disc cannot be played on
a PhotoCD player. You can, however, read the resulting disc as you
would any other Kodak PhotoCD on a computer. Also, PCD Creator has
no image manipulation tools -- it merely lets you drag and drop
images from the source to the destination. Within its limits, it is
easy to use and effective.
The Sound Editor is better than the Windows Recorder, but no one would
mistake it for a full-featured or professional tool. It allows you
to load, record, and save WAV files at various sampling rates (8,
11, 22, and 44KHz), bit resolution (8 or 16), and as either stereo
or mono. You can apply several effects: Amplify, DC Offset, Echo,
Fade, Flange, Graphic Equalization, Invert, Pitch Shift, and Pop Removal.
The basic tools are there but some of the more sophisticated capabilities
are not. For instance, the purpose of DC Offset is to remove a dc
offset which will cause increased noise or hiss when other effects
are applied. The problem is that you have to enter the amount of offset
to apply: what would make far more sense is to tell the computer to
figure out what the dc offset is and remove it. The real problem is
that eyeballing the waveform and guessing at the dc offset is hard
to do accurately.
The main tool, and fortunately the one that they thought
out the best, is CDC itself. This tool opens with a wizard which leads
you through the decision steps needed to create or append to a CD.
Of course some of the questions are terse, but generally they give
you enough information to make a reasonable decision. The only thing
I've done so far is create data CDs. The first question I am asked
is whether I want to make an ISO-9660 or Joliet disc. For ISO I am
told “The ISO 9660 is the most widely supported standart(sic)
for CD-ROM discs. Discs can be used on the platforms such as DOS,
OS/2, Windows, UNIX and Macintosh.” For Joliet I see “Discs
created using the Joilet(sic) file system can be read only under Windows
95. File and directory names can be at most 64 characters long.”
Fortunately the manual is more detailed. There really are several
more issues here: one is that some of the characters allowed (such
as - and !) in DOS file names are not allowed under ISO 9660. Another
is that ISO 9660 allows no more than eight levels of directory nesting,
while DOS doesn't care. And finally, directories are not allowed to
have extensions under ISO 9660 (Microsoft is famous for creating directories
with extensions for its own applications). So even if you are using
only short file names with Win95, your best choice is probably the
Joliet file system unless you can guarantee that your directory structure
will not exceed eight levels, no directory has an extension, and you
use only the characters A to Z, 0 to 9, and underscore. If you are
using Win3.1 you can tell CDC to relax some of the 9660 restrictions,
with the upshot being that these discs will play on Windows computers
but not on Unix or Mac.
After you have answered all the wizard's questions you
can tell CDC to first run a simulation, then, if all goes well, actually
write ("burn") the disc. In doing the simulation CDC performs every
step, including telling the recorder where to position the head and
feeding it the data, that it does for writing, with the only difference
being that it does not tell the recorder to turn on the laser to high-power
(write) mode. If CDC can make it all the way through the simulation
then it will make it through the write OK as long as the computer
is not interrupted. (You did remember to disable the fax, and modem
answer, and screensaver, etc. didn't you?) The way it copies the files
to the CD is interesting: first it looks to see how much hard disk
space it can use for a scratch area. Then it goes through the list
of files to be copied and pairs the longest with the shortest, second
longest with second shortest, and so on down the list. The purpose
of this little exercise is to alleviate the problem of getting a zillion
short files in a row (each with a time-consuming directory lookup)
and running out of time to feed the recorder. Then it decides how
many tracks to make this session (or volume, as the case may be),
based on the amount of hard disk scratch space, the recording speed,
and the speed of the system. Small scratch area, slow system, high
recording speed all make for more tracks, because each of these things
means that the system will have a hard time keeping up with the recorder.
And more tracks means each is shorter, so the recorder will come to
the end of the track before CDC runs dry on data.
CDC uses the hard disk scratch area to note where each
file is actually kept, so it does not have to rattle through the directory
structure while burning the disc. This helps a lot, especially in
directories which have lots (hundreds to thousands) of files, because
DOS (and Windows) are real stupid about how they look for a file:
They look at the first entry, and if it doesn't match, they look at
the second, and so on. The file names are not indexed in any way so
there is no speedy way of finding a specific one. If you are looking
for the thousandth file DOS finds it on the thousandth try. And if
you need the one right after it, DOS has to go through all thousand
again and one more.
CDC's approach really does help, but it isn't foolproof.
First, of course, is if you have a lot of very short files it still
takes a lot of time to retrieve them compared to the amount of data
you get. The second is that if you do anything between the time CDC
builds this index and the time it actually uses it, you're not going
to be too happy. CDC does include a tool called “Validate”
just to cover this case.
Recently CDC has been purchased by Adaptec and they
are busily melding its features with their own product, Easy-CD. Everyone
is looking forward to getting the best features of each, but the finished
product is not expected until early 1997. In the meantime there are
several excellent web sites devoted to CDR (and CDC) issues (such
as http://www.cd-info.com), including Adaptec's own (http://websvr1.adaptec.com/support/cdrec/faqindex.html).
In conclusion, after one gets used to the fact that
some information is in the manual and other necessary information
is in the help files, and some statements are ambiguous and all you
can do is try it out and see what happens, CDC is an acceptable program
for writing files to a CD recorder. Unfortunately, Corel in its inimitable
fashion opted for putting on more barely usable bells and whistles
(e.g the sound editor and PCD Creator) than for a good, solid, complete
basic design and manual. So far all the CDs I have recorded with CDC
have worked flawlessly, so I shouldn't complain too much about the
software. But it would help if the manual were more lucid.
One last observation: the price of any CDR software
is several hundred dollars if purchased separately, but less than
$100 if purchased with the recorder. If you are interested (as I was)
in getting several different CDR programs (I got both CDC and Toast)
December 1996 Contents
The QuarkXPress Book 3.3 Anyone who has yearned to design with type and images, to place and
tweak with precision, and to output files in a variety of ways, will
find QuarkXPress for Windows an indispensable program. It is simple
enough in its design to let a novice get up and running quickly, yet
powerful enough to handle difficult typographical challenges. As a
word “processing” program it doesn't do many routines needed
in an office environment (e.g. automatic tables and graphs or indexing)
without the additional purchase of plug-in x-tensions. But weighed
against reliable color output, extreme design flexibility and intelligent
and creative user it's a valuable tool and an enjoyable program to
learn.
The book to be reviewed in this article, The QuarkXPress Book by David
Blatner and Bob Weibel, is published by Peachpit Press, contains 662
pages including a seven part appendix and index. Also included is
a tear-out reference card and an offer for a $10.00 Goodies Disk.
It sells for $29.95.
The authors of the Quark book write with clarity and with very little
repetition. They understand the program (which is required of any
author of this type of book) but more importantly they understand
the process of type design. They approach the explanation of Quark,
not as sales material discussing it feature by feature, but rather
from an understanding of how Quark is applied in working situations.
The book is not a tutorial, per se, but provides comprehensive descriptions
of many features of the program. There are ten main chapters beginning
with the “Basics”: “Document Construction”, “Word
Processing”, “Type and Typography” (100 plus pages of
valuable resource information for any desktop designer), “Copy
Flow” (using styles to format text) “Pictures”, “Where
Text Meets Graphics”, “Image Modification”, “Color”
and “Printing”.
In chapter nine on “Color”, the reader will find explanations
of the differences between process color and spot color, as well as
the differences between various color models that Quark handles (RGB,
CMYK, HSB, Pantone, Focotone and Truematch). Suggestions are given
on creating a color list and how to go about naming your colors. The
chapter like all the others in the book includes “Tips”. These
often present observations on a procedure being discussed or relevant
background information. For instance, the tip on page 395 states,
Color Tricks the Eye. Placing a colored object next to another differently
colored object makes both colors look different than if you had just
one color alone. Similarly, a color can look totally different if
you place it on a black background rather than a white one.
The tip concludes by offering suggestions on how to get a truer sense
of color from swatch book samples. The chapter also gives a solid
discussion on the topic of trapping with diagrams, clarifying the
information presented.
I found the presentation of information concise and well-written and
consider it a valuable reference book. The excellent index and detailed
table of contents make finding an answer to a problem or question
a snap. As a reference book it is both simple enough to help a first
time user (both in language and conceptual presentation) while offering
detailed procedural information to the intermediate or advanced user.
The QuarkXPress Book 3.3 December 1996 Contents
They're Only Words Typos are so Freudian. One email I got referred to an “internet
hosing service”.
Another was an ad for a lost Queensland Healer. Yes, that is a very
valuable property, much more than just a pet: anything that can promote
healing after the recent political season definitely needs to be found,
not lost.
One more was a reference to a person being the lynchpin of an organization -- I
hope they meant linchpin, “a locking pin inserted in the end of
a shaft, as in an axle to keep a wheel from falling off” according
to the American Heritage Dictionary. I presume a lynchpin is the peg
you attach the hangman's noose to -- does that mean this person
was in charge of massive layoffs?
December 1996 Contents
TAO stands for (in this case) Track At Once. It is pitted against
DAO (Disc At Once) and SAO (Session At Once). A session (even the
one session of a single-session disc) can be composed of just one
track (which is what you get in all commercially-produced data CDs)
or multiple tracks. The reason you'll probably wind up recording multiple-track
sessions is that TAO puts the least demands on your computer.
You don't need blazing speed to feed the CDR, but you have to feed
it consistently. The CDR needs only 150KB/sec for single speed recording,
300KB/sec for double, or 600KB/sec for quad. (Sound requires slightly
higher data rates: 170KB/sec for single, and proportionately more
for double and quad speed.) These data rates really aren't very fast,
the rub is that you can't pause and do something else. So of course
you turn off screen savers, background tasks, and anything else that
might interrupt the smooth flow of data. If you are on a network and
one of your drives or printers is shared, remember to logout during
the recording.
Master Table of Contents
review by Dana Trout, GDTPUG
The Corel package includes the following CDR applications:
Master Table of Contents
by David Blatner and Bob Weibel
review by Christine Nolt, GDTPUG
by David Blatner and Bob Weibel
Peachpit Press (800) 283-9444 http://www.peachpit.com
$29.95 ISBN 1-56609-135-7
Master Table of Contents
by Dana Trout, GDTPUG
Master Table of Contents
Goleta DeskTop Publishing UG
P.O. Box 8450
Goleta, CA 93118-8450
(805) 685-7937 voice or fax
Copyright Notice: All material published in the Goleta Publisher is copyrighted.
Responsibility for, and ownership of, copyright remains with the
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